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Intriguing QB competition
Todd McShay
Scouts Inc.
MOBILE, Ala. -- There is still much tape to watch and many factors to consider, but as it stands right now the top of the 2012 quarterback class consists of Stanford's Andrew Luck and Baylor's Robert Griffin III in the top two spots, followed by a second tier of quarterbacks that elicits a lot of mixed opinions.

Included in that second tier are the likes of Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, Arizona State's Brock Osweiler, Arizona's Nick Foles and Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden, who project somewhere between the middle of the first round and the end of the With Tannehill on the shelf due to a foot injury and the junior Osweiler ineligible, Senior Bowl week has set up as a battle for draft position between Foles and Weeden, and the first two days of practice in Mobile have raised some interesting questions.

Plenty of NFL talent evaluators I talked to entering the week named Foles as a player to watch, but he has failed to blow scouts and front-office types away. He simply hasn't shown anything over the first two days here that we haven't already seen on tape, and he's fallen short of the performance level in some of his best games from 2011.

Foles has been a little less consistent with his accuracy, and as we've seen in the past he tends to do a lot of checking down and dumping off. That two-day practice showing alone isn't enough to change Foles' entire evaluation, but after watching things up close I've been surprised how much better Weeden's performance has been.

It's hard not to be impressed with Weeden. From the tempo of his drops to the quickness of his decisions to his consistent accuracy, especially beyond 10 yards, he is putting on exactly the kind of performance he needed. Weeden is proving that he is not a product of Oklahoma State's wide-open system and the talent of standout WR Justin Blackmon, that he can make all the throws and has a legitimate chance to be a starter in the NFL.

However, you can't dismiss the age issue with Weeden. The former minor league baseball player will be a 29-year-old rookie when training camp arrives, and the bottom line is that is a strike against him.

Should Weeden sit on the bench his first year before getting a chance, you're then looking at a second-year player and first-year starter who would be 30 years old. For some perspective, Eli Manning played the 2011 season as a 30-year-old.

That puts a ceiling on his potential and is a huge drawback for teams in terms of Weeden's value and the length of his career. It will be interesting to see just how much the issue affects his stock, especially if he continues to outperform Foles this week and separate himself from the rest of the second tier.

Again, two days is a very small sample, and even if Weeden outplays the strong-armed Foles the rest of the week it wouldn't necessarily mean Weeden is the better prospect. It would make for a much tougher decision, though.

If you asked me to decide between the two and I saw Weeden perform better on a level playing field with my own eyes, I would have to think hard about taking Foles ahead of him, even with the age issue as a consideration.

Things have set up perfectly for Weeden, and it's a fascinating situation given all the factors involved. I'm interested to see how things play out over the remainder of Senior Bowl week and what role all the questions -- about both quarterbacks -- play in where each comes off the board.

Moore making his case, too
If you ranked the six Senior Bowl quarterbacks coming into the week based on their overall profiles, the list would look like this: Foles, Weeden, Michigan State's Kirk Cousins, San Diego State's Ryan Lindley, Boise State's Kellen Moore, Wisconsin's Russell Wilson.

However, if you fell from the sky and saw only the first two days of practice, you'd have Moore at No. 3 on the list behind only Foles and Weeden.

Day 1 was not kind to Moore, who checked in at 5-foot-116 and 191 pounds and has to get the ball out quickly and put air under it downfield in order to make up for his lack or arm strength. That allows defensive backs to recover downfield and stood out as a negative, but Day 2 as much better for Moore.

His overall anticipation was outstanding and he's more consistently accurate than Cousins and Lindley, and Moore appears in control, decisive and understands where to go with the ball. The odds are stacked against him because of his size, but Moore is certainly helping his case as he attempts to solidify a late-round grade.

That's just one more reason the overall quarterback play continues to be one of the more intriguing storylines of the week.